Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Backyard Summer Camp...Camp Mom...Keeping Them Busy...whatever you call it, this series is designed to provide some ideas to keep you and the kids busy with games, crafts, and field trips all focused around a theme for the week. These are a starting point; you and your kids can use your imagination and creativity to come up with your own ideas.

This week's theme is animals because almost every kid loves animals. Have fun with these suggestions, and coming up with your own!

Animal Moves - take turns naming an
animal, then everyone acts like that animal and makes that animal’s noise

Backyard Safari - make a list with
two columns; in the first column, ask the child(ren) to name all the animals
you typically see in your backyard (or at the park, etc.) such as chipmunks,
squirrels, deer, birds, etc. Leave the
second column blank to tally the number of each animal you see on your
“safari.”

Feed the Animals/Bean Bag Toss –
print a coloring page with a picture of your child’s favorite animal; secure to
an empty cardboard box and cut a hole over/near the mouth; give your child a
bean bag (or other soft object) as the “food” for the animal to throw into the
animal’s mouth. Be sure the hole is large enough for the beanbag.

Animal Obstacle Course – set up an
obstacle course outside where kids can go over, under, around, and through
anything you have on hand; the catch is that they must crawl on all fours, hop,
or slither through the course.

Go to the library for books about your
favorite animals: The Circus Ship by Chris Van Dusen, The Underpants Zoo by Brian
Sendelback, Goodnight Gorilla by Peggy Rathmann, If You Give A…series by Laura
Numeroff, the Pigeon books or Elephant & Piggie books by Mo Willems, or the
Llama Llama books by Anna Dewdney

Feeding goats at
Powers Farm Market

The lions at Seneca Park Zoo!

We hope you have fun with your own Animals Week this summer. Be sure to Post a Comment and let us know what activities you did. As always, thanks for reading!

Saturday, July 13, 2013

I hope you have been having as much fun with this Backyard Summer Camp series as we are. My kids get pretty excited about picking a new envelope each week, and they are even coming up with their own ideas to add to our list. I love it! Of course, the list is just a starting point. It gets us going in the morning and then we go off on tangents. And the best part is: minimal whining. Yes!

·Life-Sized
Angry Birds (Materials: cardboard
boxes, Angry Birds coloring pages, water balloons, etc. Instructions: Select images of the pigs from the Angry Birds
coloring pages and secure to a few boxes. Stack the boxes to look like the game
and launch filled water balloons as the birds. Take turns trying to knock down
all of the “pigs.”)

·Play
Twister outside

·Play
tag or freeze tag

·FrisbeeTic Tac Toe (Materials: 9 frisbees or
paper plates in 2 different colors; square blanket or tablecloth; duct tape to
make the Tic Tac Toe grid on the blanket. Instructions:
players throw their Frisbee or plate and try to get three squares in a row.)

·Hang
a felt “target” outside; cover balls with adhesive Velcro (you'll want the stiff side of the Velcro; not the soft side) and have kids throw
to try and hit the target

·Life-sized
Candy Land: use masking tape or painter’s tape to secure a variety of colored
construction paper on the floor to make the game board. Use the cards from Candy
Land to move to a certain color (be sure to use colored paper that matches the
colors in the game), or roll dice and move that number of spaces. You could make
up silly rules to add more movement to the game. For example, when a player
lands on red s/he jumps three times, when a player lands on blue s/he barks like
a dog, when a player lands on orange s/he touches his/her toes, etc. ECO-NOTE: Save the paper after your game! If you roll a piece of masking tape and place on the back of the paper to secure it to the ground, you can save it. The tape pulls off easily; just stack the paper and return to your craft supplies for future use.

·Play video
games at an arcade such as Chuck E. Cheese (Rochester Area: The Clubhouse in Henrietta, NY and Adventure Landing in Greece, NY are also kid-friendly)

·Go
to the library for books about games: Games: Traditions Around the World by Godfrey Hall, Games: From Dice to Gaming by Liz Miles, The Games Book by Huw Davies, Play These Games by Heater Swain, The Big Book of Games by Dorothy Stott, and Games Galore by Shari Ann Pence.

Giant-sized fun at the new
Game Time exhibit at
Strong National Museum of Play

Friday, July 12, 2013

Last summer I scoured Pinterest for ideas and created a Messy Backyard Fun Week for my boys. They had such a blast that they still ask to "do messy stuff" on a regular basis. I suppose that was the impetus to all the Backyard Summer Camp theme weeks this year.

When I was brainstorming theme-week ideas, I had to include a Messy Stuff Week once again. It was just too much fun. Most of these can be done outside to minimize the clean up. Trust me, the mess will be worth it for the smiles on your kids' faces!

·Bubble wrap printMaterials: bubble wrap, paint, brushes, white paper. Instructions: Paint directly on the bubble wrap, then press clean paper on top to make a print.

·Microwave Ivory soapMaterials: paper towel, Ivory bar soap (no substitutes, or it won't work). Instructions: place bar of Ivory soap on paper towel in microwave; heat for a couple of minutes, until it "grows." Remove your soap blob and play!

·Dissolving egg shells & bouncing eggs Materials: eggs, vinegar, water, clear jars. Instructions: Place eggs
in vinegar and observe. Leave eggs in for 1 week, then observe; remove and bounce them. Bonus: put vinegar-eggs into corn syrup
for a few days then observe.

·Milk ArtMaterials: dish, whole milk, food coloring, dish soap. Instructions: Pour milk into a dish; drop in food coloring. Then add dish soap a few drops at a time and watch the colors dance!

·Blow Up a Balloon with YeastMaterials: empty bottle, balloon, ½ cup warm water, 1 teaspoon
sugar, 1 packet active dry yeast. Instructions: In the bottle, mix warm water and yeast; swirl around to dissolve then add sugar and swirl again. Stretch out the balloon then place over
the top. Let sit in a warm place for about 20 minutes; observe.

·Read
science books

·Write
a story together about a crazy science experiment. Let kids illustrate.

·Go
to the library for books about dinosaurs, such as the How Does A Dinosaur series by Jane Yolen, "Dinotrux" by Chris Gall, "I'm Bad" by Kate & Jim McMullan, "Beyond the Dinosaurs" by Charlotte Lewis Brown, "Boy, Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs!" by Kathleen V. Kudlinski, "Edwina The Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct" by Mo Willems, "Dora and Diego Help the Dinosaur" adapted by Lara Bergen & Ellie Seiss, "The Magic School Bus: Dinosaur Detectives" by Judith Bauer Stamper, and the dino-sports series by Lisa Wheeler: "Dino-Soccer," "Dino-Baseball," "Dino-Hockey," and "Dino-Football."

About Me

ROCmomma is dedicated to finding fun things to do in the Rochester, NY area, awesome (but easy) craft projects for young kids, kid-friendly recipes, as well as tips for the rare date night or girls' night out.